With their usual suspects—Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, etc.—in tow, they set out to create a movie that was fun and unexpected. The idea for a project centered on corporate restaurant culture initially came from Baena, who was kicking it around after filming The […]

Let’s start with your first project, Don’t Make Me Go. Can you tell me about your first impression reading the script for this film? I found out [the ending] before I actually read the script because I did a director’s callback with Hannah [Marks], and […]

Where the Crawdads Sing is a global phenomenon and one of the best-selling books of all time. How did you personally connect with this story? When I first read it, it was the coming-of-age aspect. One of my favorite movies growing up was Stand by […]

Self-publishing has this taboo around it, so how have you grappled with that as a writer?  Oh, I totally agree. There was this taboo with my first book—like, “Nobody picked you. You didn’t make the cut, so is your work actually good?” It’s one of […]

With your critically acclaimed debut album Sucker Punch, you were essentially performing globally for four years, and then the pandemic hit, causing everything to come to a screeching halt. How did you adjust to the drastic change? It was hard for everyone. It was strange […]